1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to evacuable storage containers, and in particular to air valves used in evacuable storage containers.
2. Related Art
Present evacuable food containers evacuate air from the container through the same opening through which food is placed into the container. Once the vacuum is established inside the container, the opening is permanently sealed. To access the container""s contents, the container must be cut open. To reuse the container, air is evacuated through the newly cut opening, and the container is again permanently sealed. Unfortunately, the container becomes smaller each time the container is opened, evacuated, and resealed. Eventually the container becomes too small for use and must be discarded. The result is a considerable waste of material and money.
What is required, therefore, is a flexible, evacuable food container that may be reused without progressively destroying the container.
A storage system includes a bag having a resealable/reclosable seal at an opening through which material is placed inside the bag. A valve assembly is mounted in a side of the bag. The bag is sealed and a vacuum source is used to draw air through the valve assembly, thereby creating a vacuum inside the bag. The vacuum inside the bag helps to preserve material or items stored inside the bag.
The valve assembly includes a base and a valve element. The valve element has a stem and a convex, resilient cap attached to the top of the stem. The bottom of the stem extends into a hole in the base and is kept from moving completely through the base by the distal rim or end of the cap. A valve gate is connected to the bottom of the stem via a neck portion of the stem. The resilient quality of the cap tends to pull the stem up through the hole in the base, thereby pulling the outer portion of the valve gate against the bottom of the base. The stem includes a cavity that extends into the stem from the top end. At least one hole connects the cavity to an outer surface of the stem so that air may pass through the hole, into the cavity, and then outside the stem.
To open the valve assembly, the top end of the stem is pressed down towards the base. The resulting downwards stem movement opens the seal between the gate and the bottom of the base. A conventional vacuum source may then draw air from the interior of the bag, between the gate and the bottom of the base, through the hole in the stem, and through the cavity to outside the bag. When the top end of the stem is released, the resilient quality of the cap again pulls the stem upwards and seals the gate to the bottom of the base.